Whatever martial art or self-defense system you train in, eventually you are faced with injuries. Either you suffer one or you have to help somebody else. In a street-fight or a self-defense situation, you or a friend or loved one can get seriously injured too. What do you do then? What should you do before the ambulance arrives or before you can get to a hospital?

In this episode, paramedic Doug Wittrock covers the most common injuries that result from physical violence and explains the best practices on how to handle them.

In this episode, I interview karate expert Iain Abernethy. He is one of the most popular instructors today and travels the world teaching seminars. He is most known for his approach to “bunkai”, which are the applications of the movements in kata. We discuss this and much more during the interview.

After we stopped recording, Iain proposed a project we could both work on and I said yes. It’ll take a bit of time, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. We’ll let you know when it’s ready.

In today’s episode, I interview Terry Trahan, a good friend and an amazing instructor. Terry has “led an interesting life”, to put it midly and he speaks from not only in-depth training when it comes to violence, but also from hard-earned and dearly paid for experience. He’s one of those people I have a blanket endorsement for: if you have the chance to train with him, do so.

Loren’s first novel came out a while ago and I finished reading it not so long ago. I enjoyed the book and asked him if he wanted to do aquick Q&A. He graciously agreed and here’s the result. Enjoy!

Q&A with Loren W. Christensen on his first novel:

Dukkha: The Suffering

Q: What made you decide to write a novel after well over 40 books of non-fiction?

A: I’ve written 45 nonfiction books, all the while itching to try fiction, in the same way some actors want to direct. However, I’ve learned in the writing biz that certain projects are all about timing. For example, I co-wrote ON COMBAT with Lt. Col. Dave Grossman in 2003, a complex book that I couldn’t have written in the ‘90s, probably not even in 2000. But in 2003, the experience I had gained from previous writing, such as interviewing, researching, and creating readable text out of transcripts, made it possible to tackle the 31-month project.

Likewise with DUKKHA: THE SUFFERING. I couldn’t have done it in 2000. By the time I began writing it in 2009, however, I’d read lots of how-to-write fiction literature, studied the styles of just under a kuhzillion novelists, and had matured to a place where I was comfortable creating a storyline. With those things under my belt, the novel just fell into place. Okay, it didn’t “fall into place.” It came out of my pores along with buckets of sweat and blood. And tears. And curses.

Q: Was there a specific event that triggered the idea for the story?

A: There are three shootings in the story. The one that triggers all of Sam’s emotional turmoil (duukha) was based on a real incident that happened here in Portland, one that shook the PD to its core and traumatized the citizens for months. I think I started writing with that incident in mind and built around it.

Q: What are the similarities, if any, between you and Sam?

A: There is a little of me in Sam, though he’s 30 years younger. He’s a police officer, as I was for nearly 29 years, and he’s a martial arts teacher, as I have been for the last 47 years. Also, Sam is a good cop, but not always. Sometimes his martial arts work wonderfully and other times not so good. That was my experience as well. [Read more…]

While I was in the US a few weeks ago, Kris Wilder interviewed me for his podcast series called Martial Secrets. Here’s the link to the interview. You can download the podcast or listen to it in a pop-up.

We talked about a bunch of stuff, not just martial arts but a load of topics and I had a blast. We didn’t have time to go into as much depth as some of the topics deserved (or the podcast would have ran for several hours, given as it’s hard to shut me up…) so I figure I’d go into it a bit more here. [Read more…]